The harvesting of trees for use as lumber or wood chips involves the removal of bark. Conventional debarking/delimbing machines, such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,719,950, process logs by passing them between a pair of rotating flail drums. Each drum has a series of flails, chains, cables or other known flailing elements extending radially outward. As the drums rotate, the chains flail against the tree trunk to remove small limbs and bark. In conventional known debarking and delimbing machines, the flail drums are mounted above and below the path that the logs follow through the apparatus (feed line). The flail drums are mounted perpendicular to feed line. The U.S. Pat. No. 4,719,950 is directed to an apparatus which is adaptable to various size trees. An upper flail drum is pivotally moved towards and away from the feed line in response to mechanical actuation of a gate.
Logs have a generally circular cross-section, and therefore, as they are fed through the apparatus, the chains at the center of the flail drums come into contact with the logs more often than the chains towards the outer edges of the drums. Consequently, the chains at the center of the drums will wear out faster than the chains at the outer edges. When the center chains are worn to a degree, whereby they no longer function properly, the entire series of flail chains must be replaced or rearranged.
Conventional debarking and delimbing machines are designed to be mounted on trailers which are towed behind a large truck or vehicle. Typically, these debarking/delimbing trailers are at least 50 feet in length. Consequently, the towing vehicle and trailer are difficult to maneuver around sharp turns and through dense forest. Furthermore, conventional debarking and delimbing trailers require more than one person to operate. One person is required to drive the towing vehicle and at least one other person is needed to operate the debarking and delimbing machine.
In view of the foregoing, it is an object of the present invention to provide a debarking/delimbing apparatus in which the life of the flails on the flail drums is extended.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a debarking/delimbing apparatus in which the chains along the entire length of the flail drums wear more evenly.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a debarking/delimbing apparatus in which the apparatus is self-propelled.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a debarking/delimbing apparatus which can be operated by a single operator.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a debarking/delimbing apparatus which has an articulated frame to permit greater maneuver ability.
The foregoing and additional objects are accomplished by the present invention as set forth in the specification and in the drawings.